noun
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evil fortune; bad luck
-
an unfortunate or disastrous event; calamity
Synonym Usage
See affliction.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of misfortune
Explanation
On a gloomy day, you may feel compelled to list your misfortunes: a broken umbrella, a broken heart, a broken toe. Misfortune means bad luck or the state of having bad luck. Break misfortune into its parts and you get mis- meaning bad and fortune meaning chance or luck. Sometimes it can feel like misfortune follows you. Picture it as a gloomy psychic named "Miss Fortune" who can only see the bad things in your future.
Vocabulary lists containing misfortune
Power Prefix: mis-
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"The Experiment" and "Superstition"
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Girl with a Pearl Earring
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
At the time of her misfortune, I was book editor of the Los Angeles Times.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
The biggest pre-World Cup worry for England was how they would cope should any misfortune befall captain Kane.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
Chantal wants to testify so others avoid her misfortune.
From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026
The conflicts of interest and questionably moral options to bet on the misfortune of others has prompted many states to try and rein these platforms in.
From Salon ● May 24, 2026
Of enjoyment at the fact that his brother-in-law’s money couldn’t protect him from this misfortune?
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Back pain, difficult childbirth, dental crowding and sinus infections are not random misfortunes.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026
But Germany’s misfortunes are also partly homemade, economists say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
As North Korea’s hagiographers rewrote history, they held American missionaries responsible for the country’s misfortunes, while state-sponsored novels, plays and museums depicted them as jackals who subjected Koreans to vile human experiments.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 11, 2026
Until now, Ferguson - invariably known as Fergie - has been a great survivor in royal circles and has bounced back repeatedly from misfortunes.
From BBC ● Mar. 20, 2026
In the later years of his life Theseus married Ariadne’s sister Phaedra, and thereby drew down terrible misfortunes on her and on himself and on his son Hippolytus, the son the Amazon had borne him.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
